This invention relates to an alkylation process and the recovery of the produced hydrocarbon phase in a more efficient manner and to the preparation of tert-alkyl ethers. in accordance with another aspect, this invention relates to the exchange of heat in a combination alkylation-etherification process. In one of its aspects, it relates to a process for conserving the heat produced in an alkylation process and utilizing same in the recovery of tert-alkyl ethers in the effluent of the etherification process. In accordance with another aspect, it relates to a process for supplying heat to a fractionation zone in a combination alkylation-etherification process.
Alkylation of isoparaffinic hydrocarbons with olefinic hydrocarbons is well known as a commercially important process for producing gasoline boiling range hydrocarbons. Also, it is known that tert-alkyl ethers can be prepared by reacting a primary alcohol with an olefin having a double bond on a tertiary carbon atom, such as the reaction of methanol with isobutylene and isoamylenes to form methyl tert-butyl ether, when using isobutylene. The energy requirements and costs for the recovery of tert-alkyl ethers can be great, and it is, therefore, necessary to maintain the energy requirements for an etherification process at a low level. This is particularly important where energy is valuable and the products for generating energy are in relatively short supply and expensive. It has been found that by maximizing the use of available waste heat and an alkylation fractionation system and an etherification fractionation system that the energy requirements of an etherification can be reduced thereby resulting in great energy savings.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide an improved etherification process wherein the outside energy requirements are reduced.
Another object of this invention is to utilize excess energy available in an alkylation process as energy for an etherification process recovery system.
Still another object of this invention is to provide an efficient alkylation-etherification process which maximizes the possible use of available waste heat in the system.
Other aspects, objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from a study of the disclosure, the appended claims and the drawing.